


The Best Things Come in Threes

by onetruethree



Series: October Writing Challenge 2018 [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Multi, OT3, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-07-23 11:08:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16157780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onetruethree/pseuds/onetruethree
Summary: After witnessing Chat Noir transform back into Adrien, Marinette and Luka have to deal with the aftermath.





	1. Masks

**Author's Note:**

> October Writing Prompt set from downwithwritersblock.tumblr.com
> 
> Day One: Masks

“Adrien?” Marinette gasped, her whole life crumbling to pieces in a matter of seconds. Luka stayed silent, not sure whether or not he was surprised or if he had known this all along. Either way, he was quite shaken. They had just seen him turn from Chat Noir back into Adrien.

Adrien collapsed on the ground, damage from the akuma getting the best of him. Marinette was conflicted-- how was she supposed to save Paris from an akuma in this situation? She wasn’t even sure she could do it alone.

Nonetheless, she looked back to Luka, who was already sprinting down the stairs, and nodded to him, transformed into Ladybug, then leapt off the building, not having near enough time to process the reveal.

Luka, on the other hand, had plenty of time to think as he carried the unconscious Adrien away from the scene. He thought over the consequences for finding out Adrien’s identity: none of them were good for either of them, and sighed. His life had just gotten ten times more complicated, and he wasn’t the best with change in the first place, so this would be hard for him. Even so, he promised himself to try his hardest to keep this secret; that’s the least he could do for Adrien.

Before long, he felt Adrien start to stir in his arms. “Luka? Where’s Marinette?” He croaked, still groggy from the fight.

“She’s going to get help.” He actually wasn’t sure where she was, but knowing her, she was somewhere trying to solve this situation. And in the chaos, he didn’t have time to question why she had disappeared so suddenly.

They were silent for a while, and Luka assumed it was because Adrien had been too weak from the fight, but then he spoke again. “So... you know?” Adrien looked in pain, not only physically, but emotionally. Like he had just been betrayed.

Luka nodded, hoping Adrien would realize it wasn’t his fault-- it was Hawkmoth’s. 

Soon, the ambulance arrived, and they parted ways, the paramedics tending to his wounds as he drifted in and out of awareness.

Luka looked around the scene, trying to catch a glimpse of Ladybug. She was nowhere to be found. He suddenly felt extremely uneasy, and sat down on the curb, collecting himself as he thought through what had happened, and their implications. Adrien was one of his best friends, and yet he had never suspected him to be Chat Noir. How hadn't he known? He felt a sudden protectiveness over him as he realized it had been Adrien who was sacrificing himself for Paris all this time. He rushed over to where they were caring for him, hoping he would be awake, or just to check on him in some way. As he did, he also realized that there was a burning in his chest that he hadn't felt with anyone before, save for Marinette. He shook that thought away, finally catching a glimpse of Adrien, confirming he was alright. 

* * *

 

Marinette leapt from building to building, looking everywhere for the akumatized person, but not finding them anywhere. Why had they left so suddenly? Usually, an akuma would try to go after her to get her miraculous. But they were no where in sight. She frowned, hoping that whoever had been akumatized was alright, and decided to turn back to check on Adrien.  Marinette rushed as fast as she could after detransforming, hoping to learn what exactly had happened. She caught up with Luka, relieved to know that everything still seemed somewhat normal. "Is he alright?" She asked, her stomach stirring with worry.

Luka nodded, but seemed less than content. "What do we do now?" That was a thought she was thinking as well.

"We talk to him."

Luka smiled in agreement. 

They sat with him, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. "Adrien, we were wondering..." She hesitated, feeling a little guilty for asking him about this after something traumatic. "What exactly happened earlier?"

He frowned, thinking intensely before saying, "there was an akuma, and I lost against it." There were many other thoughts in his mind, details he knew they were both wondering about: why did this akuma in particular have such an effect on him? He didn't know how to tell them.

Luka and Marinette looked at each other, saddened by that response. He obviously didn't want to talk about it in much detail. "You know we will take care of you. And we won't tell anyone."

"Not even Alya," Marinette added, attempting to lighten the mood.

Adrien smiled at their attempts, knowing they meant well. He couldn't have asked for better friends. His heart soared, feeling that familiar warmth he got when he was around them, the same one that was always followed with ' _they're just my friends'_ in his mind, trying to repress any feelings he knew he had for them. He sighed, knowing that he was telling the truth-- he trusted them both with his identity. "It's not that. With you knowing, I'm putting you in danger, and now there's no going back." He didn't blame himself, but he certainly was disappointed in himself. If only he hadn't been so weak; if only Hawkmoth hadn't had known his weaknesses. 

"We can handle it. For you," Marinette told him, realizing its truth as she said it. She would do anything for either of them, as Marinette and as Ladybug. 

Suddenly, the blond boy smiled, and said, “Thank you.” Luka could tell that those two words were loaded, but he wasn’t sure what he meant by them. Adrien smiled, eyes crinkling, lulling Luka, Marinette, and himself into a false sense of security, trying to forget the trauma of the past few hours.


	2. Stitches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> October Writing Prompt set from downwithwritersblock.tumblr.com
> 
> Day 8: Stitches

Adrien faded in and out of consciousness throughout the next week, and they never both left his side, making sure he was never alone. He always woke up to a new face. He welcomed it.

  
They both sat by his side the first night, mostly comforting each other while waiting for him to wake up. The nurse told them that he needed rest, but they were just afraid he wouldn’t wake up. Luckily, he did, and the first thing he saw was their smiling faces. He had expected things to be awkward between them because of the reveal, but it had been almost the opposite. They both seemed more protective of him. Maybe he should’ve told them earlier.

  
He shook that thought from his head-- he knew that it wasn’t a good thing that they knew his identity. They were now both in danger because of him. But still, he could enjoy them taking care of him for a few days, right?

  
Marinette had to leave to help her parents with the bakery, leaving the two boys alone for a few hours. Luka suddenly looked at him, worried. “Are you bleeding?” He asked, seeing red soaking the bandage that covered a gash next to his collar bone, and that barely poked out of his hospital gown.

  
Adrien looked down and saw the wound for himself. “You’re right. I can call for the nurse--” He reached for the call button, but Luka stopped him.

  
“No!” He blushed, realizing he had acted a little harshly. “I mean, you don't have to bother them. I can do it for you.” Luka knew that probably wasn’t the best course of action, but he didn’t want anyone to interrupt their solitude that he had come to enjoy.

  
Adrien thought it over for a while, then nodded. “Alright.”

  
Luka raided a nearby cupboard and quickly found clean bandages. By the time he had pushed Adrien’s sleeve out of the way, he was trying to hide a blush. “Does this hurt?” As he redressed the wound, he realized it was very minor; probably not even worth fixing, but now their faces were so close--

  
“No, it’s fine.” Adrien was blushing too.

  
Luka kicked himself-- why did he even decide to do this? Ever since finding out Adrien was Chat, he had been overprotective, despite knowing the boy he was protecting was a superhero. He pressed the new bandage on, and turned to look Adrien in the eyes.

  
Since when had Adrien been so cute? He was biting his lip, watching Luka intently. He looked up as well, and they looked away immediately, not wanting to make things awkward with prolonged eye contact. After all, Luka was dating Marinette, so he shouldn’t try to kiss Adrien. But he would be lying if he said he didn’t really want to.

  
He sat back down, and they sat in silence once again, but Luka would look up to check on Adrien every once in a while, until finally, he had gone to sleep again.

  
Around an hour later, Marinette came back, trying her best to be quiet as she greeted her boyfriend. “Hey, Luka, how’d it go?”

  
He smiled, answering her question wordlessly. She smiled back and sat down next to him. “He looks so peaceful, doesn’t he?”

  
Luka laughed softly, but agreed. Seconds passed, and they both thought to themselves, comfortable in each other’s presence. “I wanted to kiss him,” Luka blurted. He regretted it; not because he didn’t want to tell her, but because the statement was inaccurate. It was wants to kiss him: present tense.

  
Marinette didn’t look surprised, nor confused, but looked between the two of them. She giggled. “Welcome to the club.”

  
He smiled. Of course-- Marinette had been in love with Adrien for years now. Feelings like that don’t just disappear, despite dating someone else. In those minutes of silence as they thought through what that short conversation might mean for their relationship, they both felt the most content they had in a while. Then, Adrien woke up.

  
“Morning, pretty boy.” Luka said, most likely teasing him about his bed head. Marinette smacked him for flirting.

  
“Hey, guys,” Adrien said groggily, sitting up to a more comfortable position. “You’re both here?” He had gotten pretty used to only having one of them at a time there. It was pretty shocking to see them both there; probably because it was harder to rationalize his feelings for both of them that way.

  
“Yep!” Luka said, ignoring the fact that he had totally forgotten about band practice with his sister. “Look Adrien,” Luka started, looking to Marinette to confirm he had correctly interpreted their silent conversation from earlier, “do you want to kiss me?”

  
Both Adrien and Marinette were surprised by his bluntness. He gulped and answered, “yes,” as quietly as possible. He was just glad he hadn’t been the only one feeling the chemistry earlier.

  
“Well, I give you permission.” Luka said, and looked to Marinette.

  
She paused a few seconds, then answered, “Oh, yeah, me too.” She had forgotten for a moment that it was odd for your boyfriend and childhood crush to kiss.

  
Adrien, shaking, did just that: sat up the best he could and softly pressed his lips against Luka’s, hoping for his life he was doing okay. This was his first kiss period let alone with another guy. He pulled away quickly, leaving both Luka and Marinette wanting more. So Marinette leapt across Luka’s lap to kiss him herself, catching him off guard. She savored the kiss before pulling back, smiling proudly at her own boldness. Luka just stared at her, stunned. “Wow, you’ve never been that bold with me.”

  
She shook her head. “That kiss has been building up for years. Maybe if you had been just as dense as him you could get something similar.”

  
He rolled his eyes in response. “Then I wouldn’t have gotten as much time to be with you.” He pulled her into his own kiss, a sweet, practiced one with history behind it. Adrien couldn’t help but think they were cute-- both their relationship and their individual appearance.

  
And as his mind spiraled through possible futures for them, he looked through the window to see the only thing that could’ve ruined the moment: an akuma. He stumbled in his words, trying to come up with an excuse. “Guys, I have to go to--”

  
Luka interrupted his stutter. “Babe, we know.”

  
Adrien was caught of guard. He had forgotten the identity reveal. Plus, he hadn’t expected pet names this soon. “Umm,” he spoke before just deciding to transform. “Plagg, claws out!” He said, then rushed out the window, looking back briefly. “Take care of her, okay? Don’t let her out of your sight.”

  
Luka looked between both of them, and smiled. “I promise.”


	3. Kisses

Luka turned back to Marinette, looking worried, but he trusted Adrien to get the job done. He hoped it wasn’t as bad as last time. He also knew there was nothing he could do. Except protect Marinette. 

Marinette knew she needed to help Chat. Last time, if she had just been there to help... But she also knew that Luka was determined on protecting her. So what could she do? She could really use Lucky Charm at a time like this. “Are you sure he’ll be alright?”

He nodded. “Mari, he’s a  _ superhero. _ He’s got this.”

She sighed. Why did he have to be so sure of things? “But last time--” Suddenly, a crash. The window had broken through, and there was Adrien-- no, Chat-- fighting the akuma. In the commotion, she ran from the room. She really was lucky. 

In a nearby bathroom, she was finally alone. “That was a close one, huh, Tikki? Spots on!” 

The akuma wasn’t anything worse than usual, and Marinette was glad she had gotten to help Chat-- without her, he wouldn’t have been able to use her Miraculous Ladybug, which would’ve been a problem, especially with the damage to the hospital. 

Soon, they parted ways to detransform, but Marinette wanted to see him as Chat again before he turned back into Adrien. She snuck behind him, as Marinette now, and spooked him. He screamed in a very un-manly manner. “Hey,  _ babe _ ,” she said, putting emphasis on the last word, causing shivers to shoot down Chat’s spine. 

“Hello, milady,” he answered, turning around. Marinette gasped softly, surprised at the usage of that word. She wasn’t used to hearing it in this setting. 

“Glad you’re alright.” She smiled sweetly, the relief genuine. 

He smiled back, and they shared a quick kiss until they were interrupted by Chat’s miraculous giving the warning again. He turned back in front of her eyes, and she frowned. It was still odd to her-- she still hadn’t gotten used to those two parts of her world colliding. “You know I love you, right?” She finally said it, but it wasn’t the same. Deep down, she still knew she wasn’t ready to say those words to Chat, even if she knew they were the same person. 

Adrien looked surprised, like this was going too fast, like he was  _ surprised.  _ How had he not known it this whole time?

Before he had time to reply, they heard Luka’s voice from behind them. “Oh, thank God you two are okay.” He pulled them both into a hug. They were both surprised that he did. “Let’s go back to the hospital before they wonder where we went, ‘kay?”

They all laughed and followed him back. 

It was a day later until Marinette realized that it hadn’t all gone as well as she had thought. 

Alya was the first to show her. “Marinette, have you checked the Ladyblog yet?” 

She hadn’t. “No, is something wrong?” 

Alya’s eyes got wider as she took in this new information: Marinette had no idea what had happened. “I better just show you.” Alya held up her phone so Marinette could see what was on the screen: photographic evidence of her kiss with Chat.

“Where did you get this?” 

Alya heard the anger in her voice. “It’s all over the news.” 

Marinette thought this over for a few moments before the corners of her eyes peeked up, her eyes still sad. “Alya, I think I’m gonna need your help with something.” She then felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and she immediately knew it was Luka. 

“Marinette? Have you seen this?” He sounded worried, not angry. 

“Yeah. Alya just showed me. Can you meet me at my apartment?” He agreed and hung up. Marinette looked at her friend, defeated, and started to tell her the truth. “Look this isn’t how I wanted to tell you this, but,” Alya couldn’t stop thinking she was going to say that Luka was Chat. She crossed her fingers in anticipation. “I’m dating Chat Noir. And so is Luka.”

Alya gasped audibly-- that wasn’t at all what she had expected. 

Marinette just looked disappointed-- she had been excited to tell her best friend that she was dating Adrien. But now? There was no way that would work out without people finding out Chat’s identity. She would have to keep her relationship with Adrien secret, unless they did something about this.

Once she got over the initial shock, Alya had one question. “So do you know Chat’s identity?” 

Marinette couldn’t lie to her. “Yeah, I do. But you know I can’t tell you, right?” 

Alya nodded, but looked sullen. Marinette couldn’t tell if she was upset because she couldn’t know Chat’s identity, or if she was worried for Marinette’s safety. Either way, her face turned suddenly determined. “I can help you, then. With the Ladyblog.”

“Thanks.” She couldn’t have asked for a better best friend. 

Soon, Luka joined them and they planned how to clear Luka of suspicion of being Chat. They found they made for a pretty good team-- in under an hour, they had finalized the plan. And all that was left was to follow through, and the bulk of that work was for Alya. She was at once excited and nervous, but she was willing to go to the trouble of lying on national television for her best friend. Plus, this would get her more recognition for the Ladyblog. 

* * *

It was less nerve-wracking than Alya had assumed. Nadja was surprisingly nice, and had just wanted to work with her to get the truth. But soon, they were turning the cameras on and Alya was nervous nonetheless.

“So, Miss Césaire, you tell me you have information on the recent news story about Chat Noir. Do you mind to expand on that?”

Alya smiled, prepared for this question most of all. “Of course. In fact, I have another picture that might change things a little.” She was full-on smirking now, anticipating what was coming next. 

“I would love to see that.” Nadja said, very excited for whatever this new information was, hoping it would give her show more attention than it was currently getting. 

_ Of course you would,  _ Alya thought. She pulled up the picture on her phone, and it appeared on a large screen behind them, displaying to the entire nation: a real photograph that Alya had taken of Luka and Chat Noir kissing; her masterpiece. This would pretty much, without a doubt, clear up the rumor that Luka  _ was  _ Chat Noir. 

Nadja was stunned, and Alya made sure to plug the Ladyblog before they went to commercial. 


End file.
